The Deck Demons
by CrazyNutSquirrel
Summary: Espio keeps on getting dreams, then they are given a mission to catch a group of elusive thieves, the Deck Demons. What Espio thought he knew about himself starts to crumble as the mystery gets deeper and deeper. Read and review, rated T for safety.
1. A prologue of sorts

The Deck Demons

_Running down the hallway, again. Where was he? Who was holding onto him? He turned to look, two young female chameleons ran behind him, their faces were frightened. "Espio why are they chasing us?" He shook his head, not knowing why, then he said, "I don't know, we have to escape!" "Mom and Dad are coming right?" Asked the one on the right. She was light blue, and the one on the left was pure white. _

_"Yes they are June." Espio felt the feeling he always got when he was lying. A metal star flashed down from them ahead and hit June, she cried out and fell, it left a diagonal scar, cutting from her left shoulder to her right hip. Espio stopped, picked her up, and was about to continue running when someone grabbed him from behind, the white chameleon screamed. "ESPIO!" "GET JUNE AND ESCAPE SERENA!" He yelled before something hit the side of his neck and his world went black._

Espio sat up with a gasp, eyes wide, sweating, it took him a moment to recognize his room in the Chaotix detective agency, then he rested his forehead in the palm of his left hand. That dream, why did he keep having it. He closed his eyes, it was so confusing, and for some reason, he felt frightened in it, and while he felt frightened during the dream, he also felt pity for the two young girls, June and Serena. His forehead creased slightly, who were they? He had never met them before.

"Espio?" "AAAAH!" Espio was shocked so badly he fell out of the bed. Charmy hovered over him as he groaned and stood, rubbing his back. "What do you want Charmy?" Growled Espio. "Vector wants you to come downstairs." Then Charmy buzzed out of his room grinning like an idiot. Espio sighed, reached for his gloves, then decided he wouldn't wear them that day. Part of the dream replayed itself in his minds eye, he wasn't wearing gloves when he picked up June, he was wearing cuffs, the cuffs that were now attached to his gloves. He frowned slightly, then pulled on a crimson robe and some sandals. He went downstairs.

Vector was nodding his head to music at the table, Espio made a noise of disapproval in his throat. Vector took no notice. Espio started to doubt Vector's hearing and wondered if his "boss" had gone deaf, then Vector opened his eyes and took his feet off the table. "Ah Espio!" Espio heard the volume go down, not too much though, he could still hear it. "Do you know what?" Asked Vector grinning toothily at him as he made himself tea and a bit of toast. Espio paused and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to become calm. Some wind came through the open kitchen window and seemingly twirled around him, and for some reason, that calmed him.

"No I don't know Vector." "We have a new assignment!" Crowed Vector. "Which is?" "VECTOR'S LYING! WE HAVE TWO ASSIGNMENTS!" Yelled Charmy, Vector glared at him, "No we don't!" "Yes we do! I just answered the phone!" "Well the one I received is probably more important so I'm talking first!" Charmy sulked as Vector continued, "We have to catch some robbers, I already collected a few clues. It's going to be relatively easy to catch them, and then we get paid, handsomely. They stole from some rich guy you see. He wants his stuff back."

Espio turned to Charmy now, "WE'VE GOTTA CATCH THE DECK DEMONS! And those guys are good, they had only a few seconds of security camera feed on them, and they didn't even get to see what they looked like! It just showed three chameleons, four hedgehogs, an echidna, and a komodo dragon." Vector whistled. "We've gotta catch 'em you say?" "Oh yeah, they've stolen from tons of rich guys!"

Vector started to get his "money grin", as Espio thought of it. He sighed, he'd have to give up his idea of having peace that day.

***

The deck demons were a much feared crew who stored away in the huge cargo hold of the famed ship _Glory Hill_. It was THE largest and THE most famous ship there was. There were only three hundred ports it didn't go to.

***

June's eyes opened quickly, she sat up. Seeing the crates around herself she groaned and buried her face in her hands. Dreaming of Espio again. It wasn't good. She heard a tap to her right, "Yes?" A black hedgehog with yellow highlights looked over the top of the crates, "You okay darling?" "Yes Slade, I'm perfectly fine." "No you aren't." June suddenly remembered. "Stop inspecting my dreams!"

Slade raised her hands in deffence, "Sorry honey, I can't stop other people's dreams filtering into my mind when I'm asleep, who's Espio?" "You don't need to know." Growled June standing. "Alright, sorry about that dear." June paused, exhaled and said, "Sorry Slade. It's a painful memory."

Slade placed her right hand on June's shoulder, "I understand." Then she smiled, "It's just about breakfast time!" "Are you ALWAYS thinking of food?" Slade adopted a mock surprised face, "Of course! It's one of the most important things on the planet!" Serena's voice sounded, "Is it morning already?" June looked at the clock then grinned over at her sister over the crates, "Yes it is my sleepy sister, 10:00 to be exact." "Oh dear Michael is waiting for me!" Said Serena jumping up, she drew her curtain around her crate room and quickly got dressed in a dark green sweater, black jeans, and her usual light grey shoes and gloves.

"I hope he isn't mad!" She said as she hurried away to the stairs leading to the deck. June and Slade chuckled, "Angry? Michael? That's a good one." "Yeah, he's always quiet.... he'll probably think Serena is mad at him!" They both laughed. A black hedgehog with a dark grey lock of hair came out of another of the crate rooms, "What's so funny?" "Serena and Michael." "I agree then." Said Dave, for that was the hedgehog's name. June rolled her eyes, "You're only agreeing because I'm saying that."

A red chameleon, a dark blue echidna, and a silvery coloured hedgehog came out of the other three crate rooms. "Good morning." Said the silvery hedgehog who's name was Alex. "Good morning Alex." Said the red chameleon, his name was Jack, he liked June, a lot. And Dave liked June too... but June only liked Jack. Dave just annoyed her. The echidna was Vivi, their combat expert. She yawned, "What's for breakfast?" "Giggles apparently." Said Jack making June laugh. Dave glared at him. "Let's go up onto the deck then!" Chameleons were the only breed of Mobian that didn't HAVE to wear tops. Their scales worked just as well. So June strolled out onto the deck wearing dark blue bootleg jeans, her sneakers, and some spiked wrist bands. The scar from her childhood was still there, it was a pale pink colour, going across her peach coloured chest and stomach area, shaped like some kind of stretched heart.

She shivered slightly as a bit of smoke went over it, the kind of smoke the ship expelled was un-pure, and as such, it hurt her. Serena and June were from the wind clan of chameleons, and as such, had control over wind. Jack was from the fire clan. Jack grinned and whipped off his jacket, he placed it around her shoulders, he blew on it, it heated the coat up, but not enough to catch flame. June smiled gratefully at him. At that moment Dave wished that he did not have power over ice.

***

Espio looked out the window of the restaurant Vector had taken them to as a celebration for capturing the thieves, Vector had been right, the pay had been handsome. He saw a huge ship coming towards the harbor. Before he could say anything, Charmy shrieked, "VECTOR! IT'S THE GLORY HILL!!" Vector immediately jumped up and ran out the door with Charmy, Espio sighed, payed for their meal, and had it packed to go, he followed them to the harbor, frowning as something deep inside tugged him towards the ship.

***

June was bouncing around like a happy kitten. They had stopped at a port only eight days ago, broken into a place on request of the owner, and stolen tons, got ambushed, and had a hawk named Vice finish the job for them and collect their money, then he requested to join the team!! And Vice was nice too....

_Flashback....._

"Tha looks vairy nasty." June opened her eyes and looked around, her team mates were on beds and a blue-black hawk was leaning over Michael. She sat up and he turned, "You've finally woken up lassie, you ken that that dairty fox would no have beaten ye if he'd played fair." June smiled then asked, "Is Michael okay?" "So that's the lad's name. Yes lassie, he'll be fine. My name is Vice, what's your name lass?" She giggled a bit then said, "I'm June, doesn't vice mean...?" "A lot of bad things? Yes it does, ma parents named me that for some strainge reason. Would you like something to eat lass?" "Yes please. Where are we?" "On the _Glory Hill, _and on our way to Station Square. In the Royal Suite too." "Why are we in the royal suite?" Asked June, astonished. "Because I have the right kind of money for this kind of thing, I could be classified as a rich type." Then June remembered, "Oh no! The mission.....!!!" "Dinnae worry lass, I delivered it for you and have your money here."

"Money? Where? Gimme!" David had woken up as if a thunderbolt had hit him the instant he heard the word "money". "Oh dear, shut up David!" June gave him a smack. "What's that for?!" He complained as he rubbed his cheek. "He finished the job for us and all you can say is "gimme money!" It's pathetic David!" June smacked him again for good measure. "Ow!" "What's wrong?" Asked Michael, sitting up groggily. "Hmph, she's smacking me like there's no tomorrow." Said David, sulking. Slade pushed herself up shakily and laughed, "You could use some!" "What's up with David?" Asked Jack sitting up, "Nothing, except bruised pride." "Hmmm... I hope it heals fast. What's your name? I'm Jack." Jack held out his hand. "You have vairy good manners lad, I'm Vice. I don't ken why I was named that." "Do you know why you sound like an idiot when you speak?" Asked David sulkily. "Oh that's just my accent my braw bonny lad. I can speak yours if you like. I'll sometimes slip because I dinnae learn it too well." Said Vice before June could tell David off. "It would be better." "I slip on the ken the most."" "Okay what does that mean anyway?" "Does it mean know?" Asked Serena. "So it does ma lassie. Are any of you wanting a drink?" "Yes please." "What would you all like?" They all requested their drinks and Vice ordered them.

Then he asked, "So where are you hitting next?" "What do you mean?" "You're the Deck Demons, I can tell, look, yon lassie even has the double d tattoo." "Then why didn't you give us to the authorities?" "Are ye kidding me? I admire your handiwork! You're geniuses! I'd love to work with your group you ken?" "I ken." Said June smiling. "STOP GETTING ALL CLOSE TO MY GIRL!" "WHAT did you say David?" "N...Nothing...." "Good." June smiled, "No one is the boss of me, NO ONE. Understand, DAVID???" He nodded sullenly. "Good." "Now you've settled your affairs would you like to get a wee bit to eat?" "Yes please."

***

Serena went over to June, "What is it?" "June, I.... I got another dream." "About Espio?" Asked June drawing Serena to the side and whispering. "Yeah." "Who's Espio?" Asked David, his face now looming in front of them. June didn't reply, she picked him up and threw him to the other side of teh room. "None of your business big nose." She called, "What happened in the dream?" "The same things, but this time there was also a bit more, Espio was sitting in a room with a crocodile and a bee." "A chameleon, a crocodile and a bee you say? All together?" Vice asked, having heard the last part. Serena nodded. "If Ah'm correct, they are called Team Chaotix." "Team Chaotix?" "Yes, the next stop of the good old _Glory hill _is Station Square, and that's where their headquarters are. We're almost at the port, should only take five more minutes. We can drop by you ken if that's your wish."

"Thanks Vice!" David sent dagger glares at the hawk who was receiving a hug from June and Serena.

**Authoress note: Wow....... an incredibly long chapter no? I don't know why I have Vice talking the way he does, but he sounds funny doesn't he? Review please!**

**Disclaimer: Crazy doesn't own Team Chaotix, the Sonic gang, blah blah blah blah.... she only owns the Deck Demons, the Glory hill, and me. **

**Authoress: Thanks Disclaimer. **


	2. Jack and Vivi arrested

Chapter 2: Jack and Vivi arrested

Espio had snuck into the kitchen earlier using his natural camouflage powers and had caught Charmy trying to steal the candy in the cupboard. Vector had cried tears of joy, and was tying Charmy up as Espio left by the back door to go get them some groceries, his gloves were on.

***

June bounced around crazily as if she had had caffeine. "Could you stop that? You're making me vairy dizzy ye ken?" Said Vice, groaning and clutching his head. June stopped, but still had a slight spring to her step, "Sorry Vice. I'm just so excited! If the chameleon is who we think he is it will be the first time Serena and I have seen him in years!"

"Who's Espio?" Asked Dave, still sulking. Slade shrugged, "Some guy they both dream about." "You mean a boyfriend?" Asked Dave, jealousy creeping into his voice. "No, more like a relative." Dave sighed with satisfaction, good, this Espio guy wasn't a threat to his claim on June, he didn't care if Serena was interested in Espio..... as long as June wasn't, and now there was absolutely no chance of that.

"Ahem, I don't think you want June to find out about that." Said Michael, "Find out about what?" Asked Alex, "Dave's thoughts." "Which are what?" Asked a komodo dragon, his name was Darien, he was the member who sought out employers for them. "Any employers this time Darien?" "Only one, but he didn't offer enough, and it would have been too dangerous."

Dave's daring streak flared up, "Oh? And what is it?" "Attack the Central Bank and steal the three chaos emeralds in there, and any other valuables we can get. That place has too much security for us to get in there." But Dave was on a roll. "How much did he offer?" Darien was starting to get slightly uneasy, shown by how rapidly his tongue was flickering in and out, "900 Mobiums." "We'll take it, go inform the guy that we'll do the job, right after we visit these.... Chaotix.... people."

Darien nodded, unhappily, but he headed off to do Dave's bidding. Dave smiled inwardly, he'd show June not to like Jack, Jack might get _accidentally _captured by the police.......... she wouldn't be able to be his girlfriend if he was in jail now would she? And he knew who she'd turn to.

***

Vector finished tying Charmy up, it was harder than it sounded, when someone knocked on the door. He opened it, at first he almost thought it was the Deck Demons, but then he noticed that there was a hawk with them, a hawk wasn't a member of their team.

"Hello, what can I do for you?" "Are you a member of Team Chaotix?" "Yes, I'm Vector." "There are three members right?" "Yeah." "Okay can we..... who is that bee?" Serena interrupted herself when she saw Charmy bound and gagged on the sofa. Vector rubbed the back of his head, "The youngest member." "Why is he tied up?"

"Because he was stealing from the kitchen...... not much of a reason I know but....... I don't know if you understand or not." "Oh ah do. Ah used to go into the kitchen and steal the cookies me granny was making.......... got tied up and locked in my room for half an hour. I know what you mean lad." Vector smiled at Vice. "Well thank you." "So that's Charmy, you're Vector, and the third member of your team, a chameleon. Where is he?" Asked June, serious and with a no nonsense look on her face.

"His name's Espio, he's out at the moment." "Does he have any sisters?" Asked Serena, she held her breath unconsciously, June stiffened, hopeful. "None that I know of. I'll ask Charmy if he knows anything." Vector took the gag out of Charmy's mouth. "I don't think Espio has siblings....... said he doesn't remember anything before he met this guy he calls Sensei............. what does that mean anyway?"

Michael smiled at the bee, "I think it means teacher." "Oh okay...." "But didn't he have any parents?" Asked June, Dave looked at her suspiciously, why so interested? He started to fear he had been wrong.

At that precise moment, Espio came through the door. June and Serena gazed at him in shock, he was like their brother, but..... something was different, he didn't have a playful gleam in his eye, he was more muscular, more careworn.

Vector didn't notice a single thing wrong. "Hey Espio! These two young ladies were making enquiries about you." "Why did you let them in Vector? They might have been here to kidnap you two, did you check them for weapons at all?"

"No. Espio can't you calm down?" But Espio looked fierce, the grocery bags fell to the floor with a slam and cracking was heard. "VECTOR!" Bellowed Espio, "Did you think about the safety of you and Charmy? NO! They could have killed you if that was what they were here for!" Then he turned to the rather shocked guests, "I'm sorry but you'll have to leave right now, please come back another time." "We can't, the _Glory Hill_ will be leaving soon." Espio sighed, "Then we'll see you LATER. Call us or something."

Then he quickly showed them out the door, when he saw June and Serena a fierce roar rose up in his chest from the thing that had tugged him to the harbor. But he showed no emotion, simply inclining his head as they passed, he heard the white one whisper, "No... we were wrong again, it isn't Espio." His first impulse was to show alarm, were these the two girls from his dream? But had to stop himself as the hawk came, "We'll see you at the _Cronca cafe_ later, deal?" Espio only nodded before showing Vice, who was smiling, out the door and shutting it.

Vector was livid. "How could you have just tossed them out Espio? That was potential business!" "What were they doing here again?" Asked Espio, ignoring Vector's rage. "Making enquiries about you. Why?" But Espio didn't hear him, he picked up the grocery bags and went to the kitchen, frowning slightly, lost on a pathway of thought he hadn't gone to for a long time.

***

"But we have to meet them in twenty minutes!" Protested Serena. Dave ignored her, only speeding up. "What is wrong with you Dave?" Asked June grabbing his shoulder and wrenching her around.

He stopped, staring for a long time into her eyes. "Nothing." "Serena and I want to be at that cafe when they arrive, and you're dragging us away on a mission? There isn't any need for us to be there!" Dave suddenly saw a window of opportunity. "No, there isn't, you go, I'll take Jack and Vivi with me. We should be enough."

June smiled at him for the second time since they'd met. "Thank you Dave. This is important to us." They ran off in the direction of the cafe, Darien at the back, Michael carrying Serena so she wouldn't trip, Alex beside June, and Vice in the lead. Dave smiled wickedly inside. _Good, soon I'll be rid of Jack, and Vivi shall just be an added bonus._

***

In it's lair deep bellow Station Square a creature that had not been seen for centuries raised it's head, hissing with satisfaction. The small creatures who saw it ran away in fear as soon as they sensed it's presence.

It had finally located a way to pay back those who had stolen it's freedom. The black hedgehog with thoughts of betrayal would do nicely.

***

Dave left Vivi outside to guard, even though she argued he persisted until she relented, then he took Jack with him. He got the vault open and quickly grabbed the items there mission required. He stuffed them in the bag and turned at the sound of guns. Vivi ran up the stairs, holding off the police so they could escape. Thinking quickly, Dave grabbed Jack and hurled him at Vivi. With shouts of surprise, shock, and dismay, they both fell into the ranks of police.

Dave laughed hysterically and yelled, "You'll never get June now will you Jack? I have won!" Then he vaulted out the window and used his powers of ice to block it and conceal him in an alley until the search disappeared. He could hear the angry shouts of his former team mates. "Dave! How could you?" "You'll pay one day! With my hands around your neck!" Dave's blood ran cold for a moment when he heard Vivi's threat, then he shrugged it off, she was going to jail, the one they'd lock her and Jack up in would never allow them to get out. There was no way it would be possible.

He chuckled, then his chuckle turned to a strangled sob of fear. But before he could run a warm claw wrapped around his body, pining his arms to his sides, hot breath caressed the back of his neck when a voice said, "I am not here to hurt you, this is just a manifestation of myself. I once ruled this world, in a time the Mobians chose to forget. If you help me I will get you the girl you want, I will make her fall for you, plead to be your wife. Does this sound acceptable to you?"

Dave stopped trembling when the creature spoke, the visions of this made him want to fight back. But the poison the creature had injected with just it's voice twisted him, making him relish the images, while what little of him was untainted cried out in anger, but was not heard or heeded.

"Yes." Dave said, his voice having gained a slight hiss, just like the creatures. "Good. Do you want to know what you will do if you want me to do this for you?" Dave nodded, "Yes." "You must find me a body that will carry my power for long enough for my body to be freed so I can once again rule the world, with you at my side." Images of conquest and burning plains assaulted Dave's mind. What little of his true self remained struggled feebly, but the twisted self gloried in it, in all the pain and misery.

"Yes, I will help you. You will remember your side of the bargain won't you?" He hissed anxiously, the creature chuckled, "I won't. I always keep my word."

***

June and Serena were waiting rather impatiently, they had hardly noticed when Vice ordered them hot chocolates. It had started raining, instead of a light summer drizzle it was a heavy downpour. "Do you think they'll come?" Asked Serena anxiously. June sat in silence, face stony, hands tense.

Her thoughts, unlike Serena's, were not only on Team Chaotix, she was also worried about Jack. Dave had looked different, something about his look had unsettled her. She shook that aside when she heard Vice say, "There they are!"

Team Chaotix came through the door, Espio looked dry, Charmy was soaked, and Vector was closing an umbrella. "Hello." Said Vector, grinning his toothy grin. Serena smiled at him, June didn't acknowledge his presence. Her eyes were riveted on Espio with flaming intensity. Espio felt slightly uncomfortable under this gaze, but did not show it.

He sat down calmly and quickly scanned the menu." Vector sat down beside him, Serena was on his other side. Espio didn't know their names, but something about them seemed familiar. "Choose whatever you want." Said Alex, "We'll pay for it." Said Vice smiling. Charmy perked up at this, "Really? Cool!" He immediately ordered a hot chocolate with whipped cream, caramel sauce, and sprinkles. Vector groaned, "He's going to have a sugar rush."

Vice chuckled, "Ah had those all the time when Ah was his age. It won't do him no harm you ken." "Ken?" "He means you know." Said Michael. Serena smiled at him and leaned against her boyfriend. The thing in Espio growled when it saw that, immediately making him feel protective, who was this guy, was he trustworthy? Espio was bewildered, why in the world was he feeling like this?

June was still staring at him, Espio was still ignoring her. Charmy finally said, after looking at them for awhile, "Isn't it supposed to be rude to stare?" Vector glared at him. June looked at him, "Yes, yes it is. But I'm staring at him with good reason." "What? You've given up on Jack now?" "No. He looks like me brother..... and at the same time doesn't look like my brother." Espio's head shot up. "What?"

June and Serena looked at him, "We had a brother once, his name was Espio." "Yes, let us tell you about him. The place we grew up was hidden deep in a forest. We played in the fields with the wind around us, the element we controlled." Espio and the others listened with interest which soon became fascination as the two chameleon girls related their tale.

**Authoress note: The next chapter is the tale of their childhood. :) I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I was quite surprised when I got my first review all in capitals from inudemon, apparently, this story is very good. I had this story idea for ages and this is my third version of it, with quite a few drastic changes, I'm using some ideas from the first two versions to combine them. :) I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. **


	3. Chapter 3 or two

Chapter 3 (or two..... seeing as the first "chapter" was actually a prologue XP)

_Flashback......._

Two young female chameleons were shrieking with laughter as a purple chameleon pursued them across the fields. "Get back here you two little trouble makers!" "Never!" They screamed with glee, he called back, "Then I sentence you to..... the tickle treatment!" They cackled with glee as they used their powers to call upon the wind which would give them a boost. With June it became a cry of fear, "ESPIO!" As soon as he heard the fear he ran faster, the wind at his back, June was being swept high by a different wind while the wind she had called was dismissed by Serena, "Espio help!" Screamed June, Espio created stairs of wind and ran up them, leaping off the top and catching her, then using more wind to cushion their fall.

As soon as they were on the ground he was checking to see if she was okay. Serena hovered anxiously over his shoulder, watching to see if June was okay. A grey chameleon cackled and came forward, "She's okay. Though she won't be if she runs by here shrieking again." Espio, who was only a child, angrily spoke to his elder, "You always attack them whenever we're playing. You have no right to Orja." Orja smirked, "Now now, be polite to your elders? What are you going to do? Tell your grandfather on me?"

That stung, Espio threw Orja one last angry glance before picking June up and carrying her with one arm and leading Serena away by holding her by the hand. "What did Orja mean about grandfather?" Asked Serena. Espio sighed, "He knows grandfather won't believe me when I tell him about what he does, he also knows that grandfather just thinks we were being careless and gives us more training. And he's afraid too."

"And so he should be! You'll kick his ass one day won't you big brother?" Asked June, she grinned gleefully as he looked at her, shocked. "Since when did you learn that language?" He asked. Serena piped up, "Ever since you saved that girl when those bullies attacked her! You told them you'd....." ".... kick their asses if they ever did it again!" Finished June with relish. Espio shook his head, pretending to be sorrowful, "Oh woe is me when Mom finds out. She'll have me scrubbing the floor until the scales on my hands are worn away!"

"We'll help!" Said June and Serena at the same time. Their father, Ajime, was watching them and had heard the whole conversation, he would never tell his wife or father, but he was very proud of his three children, they showed a loyalty to each other that his sisters children never showed, while his children showed unity and love to each other, her children showed chaos and distrust.

He had never seen what had happened with Orja, he never arrived fast enough, but he always tried to keep up with them. That was another thing that made him proud of his children, their speed. They were much faster than the other chameleons. He slipped away, lest they notice him and start making excuses.

***

"Espio!" A black chameleon ran towards them. "Kendan!" Kendan slid to a stop and grinned at the three, "Where were you three? Wait, don't tell me, out on the fields again. I told you I wanted to come along with you!" "But if you had we'd have had to make you wash the floors!" Said Serena as if telling him a terrible secret. He laughed, "Okay then! I won't ask again! I shall wait until you and Princess June invite me!"

June looked at him severely, "Yes, we'll use our royal powers on you!" Espio laughed, "Oh stop it missy! You and Serena know you aren't princesses, although you're spoiled as if you were." Kendan did a mock cough, "Ahem, and aren't you one of the people spoiling them?" Espio ignored that statement, saying, "June, Serena, did you hear something?" They giggled helplessly at the mock outraged look on Kendan's face. "Hello! I was talking to you!"

"I think I'm hearing things June, someone just called themselves a big mouth!" Kendan performed a pretend dance of rage. "Can't you hear me numbskull? I SAID I'M TALKING TO YOU!!!!" The two little girls were rolling around on the ground giggling helplessly as Espio pretended he was deaf to Kendan and Kendan pretended he was getting enraged. "Kendan!" The black chameleon flinched.

A yellow chameleon with grey eyes was striding purposefully towards them. She collared Kendan quickly, "Time for your power practice. We still don't know what powers you have."

Kendan glanced miserably at them before he was dragged off. "See you later guys." "See you later Kendan." Said Espio, smiling slightly, Kendan hated the power practice, he had no idea what powers he had, and they had been trying to find that out for four months. Espio waved and turned, to be faced with the eyes of his father.

"Oh! Hello Father!" Ajime smiled, "Hello Espio. Your mother would like to see you all, she says lunch is ready and if you don't get yourselves cleaned up there is none for you." June scowled rebelliously. "I don't want spinach pasties again!" "Actually I think it's raspberry tarts." Said Ajime smoothly. "WOOHOO!" June shot off with Serena. Espio looked at his father doubtfully, "Is that really what's for lunch?" "Nope, but it's got them to their mother with less hassle hasn't it?" They laughed on the way back.

***

They arrived just in time to capture June and Serena before they escaped. "Thank you Ajime!" Celestial smiled at her husband while scooping her two mischievous daughters up. "NO! DON'T WANT TO WASH UP AND DON'T WANT SPINACH PASTIES!" They wailed. Espio chuckled, "Don't worry, I don't think it's spinach pasties is it Mom?" "No, it's eggplant salad." They wailed harder. "And they have raspberry cream pudding after that if they're good." Silence fell as if she'd recited some charm.

They rushed off to wash up and prepare themselves to force the eggplant salad down. Anything for raspberry cream pudding!

***

_A couple years later...._

June was giggling as Espio whirled her around, Kendan was whirling Serena around. "Put us down already you idiots!" The two boys obliged, grinning from ear to ear. June hugged Espio and so did Serena. Kendan raised an eyebrow and put his hands on his hips, "What? No hugs for me?" They hugged him too.

"Remind me what the celebration is about again." Said Ajime, who was older now, with a few grey streaks in his scales, he lay on his back, watching them with one half-closed eye. Kendan grinned and bowed, "Of course your majesty!" He narrowly missed getting cuffed before he continued, "There's going to be a feast in honor of your becoming tribe chief!" "Then stop calling me "your majesty", that's my first order as your chief as you put it." "Alright chief!"

He didn't miss getting cuffed this time. June and Serena, who were both much older now, but not yet ten, asked, "Daddy, does this make us princesses?" He smiled at them and hugged them, "To me, you'll always be princesses." They grinned at him, "Can we be the wicked step sisters and can Espio be a male Cinderella for us?"

Ajime laughed at Espio's look of despair, "No, he did that enough when you were younger. How about Kendan and Espio be princes too?" "No! Have them dukes. They can't be on the same power level as us!" They protested, which made Ajime and the two young males laugh. "All right then, have it your way my twin roses, they are Dukes Espio and Kendan."

The boys started doing outrageous bows and swaggers, blowing imaginary kisses at Espio's two sisters. They giggled like they were both four again. A snort of disapproval was heard. Ajime whirled around, Orja came from the bushes. "Disgraceful. You should be teaching your son and that boy discipline, and your wife should be teaching your daughters the proper kind of grace females should have."

Ajime said, "If I recall correctly, none of the other children have that. Espio and Kendan already have discipline." "No they do not. You better run. The Jungliars are on their way." Ajime's eyes widened with alarm and fear. "How do you know? Has everyone been warned?" "No. And I called them." Then Orja leapt at Ajime. Ajime desperately struggled to gain the upper hand as he shouted to the running children, "Warn everyone! Hide yourselves! Espio! Protect your sisters!" Espio nodded, calling back, "I will father! With my life!"

***

Celestial heard the news speedily and sent it around, soon everyone was headed to the tunnels made of metal, thanks to the six chameleons who had created the havens of the seperate chameleon tribes. She sent the children in there and stayed outside, grim faced. Kendan stayed with her, he was older than Espio even, being seventeen while Espio was thirteen.

He pushed them into the tunnel, "Go! We'll be okay!" The tunnel entrance hissed shut as a green squirrel leapt at Kendan, before the door shut June could see him narrowly avoiding a dagger stab from the squirrel. She let out a sob of terror. Espio whispered reassuringly. "It's alright." They ran for awhile, everyone else had gotten ahead, the tunnel was apparently empty, and instead of hearing the sounds of fleeing from ahead, they heard only silence, Espio looked back at June and Serena, their faces were frightened. "Why are they chasing us?" He shook his head, "I don't know, we have to escape!" "Mom and Dad are coming right?" Asked June. "Yes they are June."

June cried out and fell, a metal star had slashed down on her. Espio picked her up and was about to continue running when a huge dark green bear grabbed him. "ESPIO!" Screamed Serena. "GET JUNE AND ESCAPE SERENA!" The bear hit the side of his neck with a tranquilizer dart. Serena couldn't stand it, she started chanting, and wind started wailing around her.

_From the darkness deep I call you_

_Something that was forgot_

_Something that has slept since the beginning of time_

_Rise now and slay those who I say_

_They are the sinners of the earth_

_They are the smudge on the cloth_

_Destroy them now_

_And make THEM a memory to be forgot_

She chanted this, over and over, June had fainted, but began to stir at this, a rumble came from the end of the tunnel, and a muffled scream. Two sinister yellow and red dots appeared in the distance. The bear had turned, forgetting the girls when the rumble started, now he stood rooted with fear. The huge head of a creature that looked like it belonged in the time of the dinosaurs rose above him. It screamed, and unearthly sound.

"DESTROY THE JUNGLIARS!" Screamed Serena. A black substance erupted from June's chest, it was shaped roughly like a dragon from a nightmare, the creature Serena had called was like a larger version. Before the jaws closed around the bear a chimpanzee swung down and carried Espio's limp form away. "RETRIEVE MY BROTHER!" The dragon's head turned, the bear's bloody corpse forgotten, it blew a stream of fire at the monkey, who tossed Espio to a chameleon who's identity was hidden under the traditional outfit of ninja's, the monkey screamed as it's fur was set aflame, it let go of the vine it held, and fell straight into the dragon's mouth with a wail of despair.

June rose, her eyes glowing white.

_From the blood of my fathers comes chaos_

_In times of chaos this harmony brings peace_

_The wailing of the wind to calm it_

_The bite of the wind to destroy it_

June breathed a line of crystal shards, they shot after the chameleon who dodged, but got his arm cut. They heard him grunt as he used every ounce of his skill to avoid them. "BETRAYER OF OUR KIND!" "TRAITOR!" Then they recited a spell they had been taught by their grandfather in secret. The traitor's reward.

_What is a traitors reward?_

_Death_

_What is a traitors fort?_

_Fear_

_How does a traitor live?_

_In terror_

_How does a traitor die?_

_A coward_

The grim reaper appeared in front of the chameleon who's eyes widened with terror. "It is time to embrace you." And the black folds of the grim reaper's cloak muffled the chameleon traitor's last sound. A scream.

June and Serena were hugging each other, tears coursing down their faces. The dragon had disappeared to sleep until it was called again. They had lost Espio. He wasn't there anymore. Grief kept them going for weeks, sitting in that tunnel, holding each other, as if petrified, their bodies seemed to have stopped working in a way, they couldn't feel themselves or each other, all their senses except sight had seemingly shut down.


	4. Sorry

**This chapter is only an author note, to inform you of a devastating thing that happened.**

**Authoress: Hi.... uh...**

**Shade: Just tell them already!**

**Crazy: Yes, get on with it! It can only hurt you once, if it hurts you at all that is.**

**Authoress: Alright alright! Well you see... um... my Mom went onto my computer and decided that all my FF stuff was junk and DELETED IT ALL. --.-- That included future stories, chapters I had written and was going to post.... the lot! That includes descriptions of my characters and yours. So... I'm really sorry. :( Really, that puts a major setback on my writing, and I haven't been able to do much of that because of my Mom making me do tons of schoolwork. Which, I can assure you, is not fun, I'd rather be writing the stories you like. She didn't delete anything in my account, she can't get in there thank God. So... I leave this chapter to Crazy the squirrel who has decided that she and Shade can give you a little entertainment to counteract this sad news.**

**Crazy: Finally she finished, "They might hate me!" "I can't tell them!", huh. Yeah right. She sure TALKED a lot when it came to it. Sheesh.**

**Shade: If she was at the computer you'd be in deep trouble you know.**

**Crazy: Yeah, I know. But is she?**

**Shade: No.**

**Crazy: And that means we can cause little catastrophes and she won't know!**

**Shade: I think you made a spelling error.**

**Crazy: Really? Who cares. Let's continue.**

**Shade: *looks at sky* God give me patience... please...**

**Crazy: Hello all you lucky folks! You're two gorgeous hostesses...**

**Shade: Oh God... someone please say she isn't saying this...**

**Crazy:... are Crazy the Squirrel and Shade the hedgehog. I mean, Crazy the exalted favorite of the authoress and Shade, Princess of the northern contenentis.**

**Shade: Continentis? Where the heck did you get that? And you, CrazyNutSquirrel's favorite? Give me a break. I was her first OC.**

**Crazy: Shhh! They aren't supposed to know that!**

**Shade: Well they do now. Or if they don't they will in just a second. *climbs up tall tower and grabs megaphone* PEOPLE, CRAZY THE SQUIRREL WAS NOT CRAZYNUTSQUIRREL'S FIRST OC, SHADE THE HEDGEHOG WAS.**

**Crazy: No no no! All my dreams of stardom ruined.**

**Authoress: *wide eyed* What the heck did you two do? This room is a mess! Why is a tower growing up through the ceiling?!**

**Crazy: Uh oh....**

**Shade: ... Busted.**

**Authoress: OUT!!! **

**Crazy and Shade: *run out with arms over heads***

**Authoress: *sigh* Oh boy... yeah, so if you guys would please e-mail me your characters descriptions and anything you want to happen in the next chapter, as well as whether or not you want me to skip to Secondary school already. Thanks, sorry for the trouble, and I really should have hidden my FF stuff inside bunches of files instead of leaving it just on the desktop. . .**

**Charmy: HELLO! I'M CHARMY!**

**Authoress: THAT'S IT! *grabs flyswatter***

**Charmy: WHAT DID I DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO......?!**


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Hidden information

Espio looked at them with wide eyes, he slowly backed away towards the door, "What's wrong Espio?" "I don't have any sisters... this can't be true." "Espio..." "NO!" He yelled, he darted to the door and disappeared through it, but Vice tossed a device that bit into Espio's arm as he was lost to sight, it flew back.

"What's that? Did you hurt Espio?" "No I didn't lassie. This little device will track him by his blood. I have a sample of it in here, it will react to his, and will telll us wherever he is." "Thanks Vice." Said June, she looked sad.

Serena however was crying hard, Michael held her, "I... I.... I can't believe it! We sear....searched for him for years and he d... doesn't remember us!" Michael stroked her hair soothingly as she sobbed into his shoulder. "Shh... it will be alright Serena. Shh..."

"How did you first meet them?" Asked Alex. "Two years ago by my calendar. Why?" "Tell us exactly how you met him." Said Darien, tongue flickering in and out.

_Two years ago..._

"'Vector you must retrieve their experiment! You can do anything you want with him, just get him out of their hands and I'll pay you.' This ain't exactly one of the easiest things I've ever done." A much younger Vector bulled his way through a line of robots, easily destroying them. "Lousy security." Was all he could say.

The lab where his target was was empty. There was only a metal cage-like thing in it. Vector peeked through one of the windows. There was a chameleon, eyes closed. His face looked slightly fearful, he was lashing out at the air all around him. Vector looked some more then realized his target was in a virtual reality chamber. "Now where's the off-switch?" He mused, walking around the room. He'd sealed the door. He could hear angry shouts on the other side. "Nope, you're not getting in here." He chuckled. He pulled a lever. Power went out of the virtual reality chamber.

Vector opened the door and walked in. The chameleon had stumbled backwards and was pressed against the wall, eyes fearful, "Where's Sensei?" "Sensei? No idea." Said Vector. The chameleon's hands were half-raised. "I'm not here to hurt you." "But when Sensei's not around someone always hurts me..." The chameleon whispered. "Well I won't. I promise. My names Vector, yours?" "E...Espio." Espio seemed small in the light. Vector's charitable heart got the better of him, he hugged Espio.

He heard a sharp intake of breath, Espio's. Then he felt the chameleon relax. "Am I really safe?" "You betcha. And I'm going to take you from here. I think they got rid of your Sensei fellow." Espio's eyes were wide. "Do you... do you think they.... killed him?" "I'm not sure kiddo. But what I do know is that we've got to escape from here." "How?" "You're a chameleon right? Use your powers and....." "But.... no wind..." "Wind? What, do you require wind?" "No... I just thought of something with wind..." "Well you'll need to go invisible and scout out the doors, except that one there. See where they lead."

Five seconds later Espio re-appeared, "That one leads to a hangar." "Let's go then!" They quickly escaped through the hangar with a jet.

"That's what happened?" Asked June with interest, "Where was Charmy?" "Oh, I tell you how that happened then. Espio found him then told me what happened....."

_A year ago..._

Espio was out, it was night, and it was raining. "Vector is going to get me for not being home earlier." He heard a muffled crying. He quickly camouflaged himself and looked into an alley. A green hedgehog was laughing at a young bee, who's arm was cut, "Not too tough are you?" "P...please leave me alone!" "Sure I'll leave you alone, once you're other arm's bleeding." The hedgehog gave a gasp of surprise and stopped moving, Espio materialized, "Get away from him now." He growled, one of his kunai was against the hedgehog's throat.

The green hedgehog stepped back, "Now beat it." Espio watched the green mobian run away fast. Then he turned to the bee, he knelt, "Who are you? Where are your parents?" "I'm Charmy Bee! I don't exactly remember having parents..." "Do you remember anything else then?" "I only remember getting attacked by that guy." "Hmm... you'd better come with me." Espio put his jacket over Charmy. Half-way back to the detective agency he found Charmy was asleep. He smiled a little.

"You're late Espio!" Vector said, "What's that under your coat?" Espio carefully placed Charmy on the sofa and replaced the jacket with a blanket. "Who's this kid?" "His name's Charmy. He was being beaten up by that gang leader, I think his name is Scourge?" "Yup, you got that right. Where are his parents?" "He doesn't have any he remembers, and he certainly has nowhere to go." "What are we going to do then Espio?" "Keep him." "What?! The rent is strained enough."

Espio looked at Charmy's sleeping form, "No Vector, we'll keep him. I feel protective of him, like a big brother or something... and the weirdest thing is.... I think I've had this feeling before." "But you said you don't have siblings you can remember, only that Sensei guy."

"That's right. That's why it's strange."

June was silent for a moment then she said, "Do you have any idea where he went?" "Well when he mentioned that Sensei character he always said they were training in a forest by a lake..." "The water clan's territory?! Let's go." Dave had just come in, they brushed past him, "Hey! Where are you going?" "To our home." "What home? The Glory Hill is your home!"

"That was temporary. This is not." Vector stood gasping. "You're the Deck Demons?!" "Yes." Said Alex. "But... but...." "We aren't as bad as everyone thinks we are. We're usually hired by people who own the places we're sabotaging. And if not, they know the person owning it and will persuade them to set us free, if ever caught." "Now that I think of it... where are Jack and Vivi?" Asked Darien.

"Gone." "Gone?! Ran away?" "No, caught by the police." "Well we were given a mission to arrest the Deck Demons." Dave's eyes glowed, "Well let's catch up with June before we get arrested please. They are members too." So they followed. The whole time the only thing Dave was thinking was _How do I get rid of the crocodile and the bee? They'll bring problems. _His master's promise echoed around in his mind, making him grin inwardly. Soon, very soon, June would be his.

**Authoress Note: This isn't going the way I had originally thought it would, but it's still awesome! ^^ And to those of you who said something along the lines of "I'll be patient while you re-write your story", did you really think I'd delete this wonderful story? No way! It's too good to delete. I just re-read my last chapter and continued from there. I have that talent thank goodness... to be able to continue from where I left off as soon as I remember where. We're going to have an OC given to me by inudemon, Envy the wolf, in the next chapter.... now was Envy's fur green inudemon? I kinda forgot... *grins sheepishly***

**Disclaimer: True Sonic fans will know who Crazy owns and who she doesn't.**


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Four days of corruption

Espio stumbled through a field of tall grass, headed towards a forest that sat around the foot of a mountain. "It can't... be.... true..." He sucked in air, his lungs were on fire, it just couldn't be true... and yet...... when Vector had saved him his first reaction to being asked to use his powers was to hesitate and say there was no wind...... he felt a brotherly protection of Charmy that he had known was familiar but didn't know from where......

Espio suppressed these doubts and shoved them to the farthest, darkest corner of his mind he could locate. "No." He muttered, "It can't be true and it ISN'T true." He continued running, completely camouflaged.

***

Vector was already tired. "Can.... we..... please....... take....... a..... little......... rest....?" He was panting. Serena stopped, but June kept running, Serena pulled out a rope, lassoed one end, whirled it, and tossed it skillfully. June was brought crashing to the ground, she looked up through her bangs. "Serena!"

"Vector needs to take a rest, look at the others, they do too." It was true, all of them were panting, except David. "David? Are you alright?" He looked at her, "Yes." June blinked, she could have sworn she heard a slight snake-like hiss in his voice, and his pupils were momentarily slited. "Are... are you absolutely sure?" "Yes." There it was again, the hiss and the slits.

June, who had grown up in a ninja clan (of course) and had been taught certain things about possession and other related things knew what she saw. David was possessed by something. She just had to figure out what.

***

Vivi slammed her fist into the wall, even though she knew it would do no good. Jack's shinobi shozuku (his ninja outfit, I did lots of research on ninjas on Wikipedia, I don't have much stuff like what they'd say other than Sensei, I know that Kendan could call Espio Espio-kun though. ;) ) was dirty, they'd been hauled through a number of places, Vivi attacking the whole time, while Jack came quietly.

Planning his revenge. He stiffened in surprise as a light blue glowing tendril wrapped around his wrist. "What the..?" Vivi didn't hear him over her pounding of the walls. The tendril spoke directly into his mind, like the manifestation of the horror underground had done for Dave.

"You know the one possessed by my twin?"

"Possessed? Dave is possessed?"

"Did he betray you?"

"Yes."

"Then my twin has now most likely possessed him."

"I see."

"I can help you out."

"What would you want in return?"

"I would want you to destroy Dave. Once my twin possesses someone he never lets them go, they are his forever. He would be able to live on through them."

"Destroy Dave?!"

"Yes."

Jack thought for a moment, then agreed.

"I will go inform Envy that she is to help you get out of here....."

The presence slipped away, Vivi was still pounding on the walls. "Vivi stop!" She glared at him, he was surprised and horrified to see she had tears on her face. "Vivi, what's wrong?" "That moron.... he just did that to us! And when I lo..." She stopped abruptly.

"You love Dave?" Said Jack cautiously. She slowly nodded. His eyes softened, "I'm so sorry Vivi." He hugged her. "We'll get out." "Oh yeah? How?" "Well..... someone called Envy is going to be helping us." "Envy? She's a friend of mine." "You know her?" Asked Jack, surprised. "Yup. We'd better save that bag of cookies they gave us." "The police gave us cookies?" "Well... it's supposed to be cheaper than giving us proper food." "And now you've made me hungry."

"Seriously Jack, we're going to want to save these cookies, they'll help. I promise. If I know Envy these cookies will be valuable."

Envy was having a walk through the very forest Espio was headed for when the blue tendrils rose in front of her. "Oh great, what do you want." Eyes materialized in the largest. "You are required to save two prisoners from G.U.N's toughest base. Envy looked a little skeptical. "They have cookies." Envy's face changed.

"COOKIES!" The tendril quickly pointed her in the direction of the prison and watched her speed off. "Where does she get that energy...?" It sank into the ground.

The cell wall burst into rubble, they covered their heads. "COOKIES! GIVE ME THE COOKIES OR ELSE!" Vivi held the small bag out. Envy took it and started eating the cookies. "What now?" Asked Jack, watching Envy, slightly alarmed. "We pick her up and skeedaddle." "Okay!" Jack grabbed Vivi's arm and Vivi grabbed Envy. They ran out quickly before order could be regained.

**Authoress note: So Dave is possessed, Espio is going back to the forest, and Jack and Vivi escaped with Envy, and the mysterious tendril's, help! Thanks so much to inudemon for Envy. XD I thought the cookies part would be fun. I'm sorry if doing that made you angry. :'(**


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Three days of corruption

Espio's head was hurting badly. "Ugh..." He continued though, stumbling along, hidden from prying eyes. Except those of a falcon. On top of some of the trees a young falcon stood, his feathers were green. "Sir, there's a chameleon down there." A monkey looked, "Oh good job young falcon! Who knows... maybe we can get a reading. It could be..." He let the sentence trail off. They both knew who it could be.

"Get down there and see if you can find out who it is." "Yes sir." The falcon dived, wind whistling between his feathers. _Just a little... faster. _He quickly sliced through a tree and used it to spring upwards.

He heard a cry of surprise. He quickly leapt down then went closer, no one was there. He frowned. Suddenly his arms were grabbed and twisted behind his back. "Argh!" "Keep quiet. Who sent you?" "The leader of my clan..." The grip tightened. "Okay okay lay off already that hurts! My clan is the Jungliars. Happy?" Espio's camouflage came up again and he stepped back, the name triggered some images that coincided with June and Serena's story. He shoved them away.

"Which way to the lake?" The falcon's eyes widened in surprise, "Lake? You know about the lake? Who are you? Only the clans who llive in the forest know about the lake." "I'm Espio." "ESPIO?!" A host of green animals appeared. "What was that young falcon?" "The chameleon is Espio!" "The son of the wind clan chief?!" "Yeah! I think he must have amnesia or something or he'd be attacking us with their secret techniques already!"

"We must catch him!" Espio watched in amusement as they practically chased each other's tails. "Maybe he headed for the lake! It will give us an excuse to examine the water clan's place." "Yeah! Then we can invade them like we did the Wind clan!" They ran off shouting, Espio shook his head, a smile playing around his mouth. They were leading him to his goal.

***

June was panting and constantly brushing her hair out of her eyes, but she continued running. Serena caught up with her. "Serena please! Why not use our powers to carry them?" "You know I can't.... as long as these gloves remain attacked to my cuffs I can't use them at all. All that thanks to those Jungliars." June spat.

"I'll carry us then." A cooling breeze lifted them and sent them towards the forest faster than they had been going.

***

Envy was happily telling them about the forest and where they could expect Dave to go. "June and Serena would want to follow this chameleon chap right, so Dave would follow them, to keep an eye on them. And so...." She crunched some chips in the absence of cookies, ".... you'll want to head to the lake!" "The lake? What lake?" "The lake in the middle of the forest. Being from the fire clan you should know about it... oh no wait, the water and fire clan were never chummy enough to allow each other into their lairs."

"Yeah..." "Oh well, shall I lead you to the lake? Or at least to your friends?" "To the lake. If they are headed there already we'll meet up with them sooner." Envy shrugged. "Okay!" She grabbed some chip bags, found a cookie bag, and happily ate cookies as she led them through the forest. The eyes in the blue tendril watched from a tree this time. _Envy will help them find their friends. But it might already be too late._

**O.O That's the only inspiration I've had. It's a countdown! :D I'll try to make the next chapter longer. Oh yeah.... for those of you who might be interested in pokemon, I have a link to a great RPG on my profile. ^^**


	8. Chapter 7

Vivi and Jack were looking at everything except Envy, who was still eating chips, and was talking up a storm thanks to the sugar hype from the cookies. They hoped that no one who saw them would think they were following her.

For all they knew, they might be going in circles. They could only hope they weren't. "And there's this totally awesome cookie that has chocolate and marshmallow in it, I just love it......" Jack and Vivi exchanged a glance. She was talking about cookies now? Oh great.

"Um, Envy?"

"Yeah?"

"Are we lost?"

"Absolutely not!" Said Envy.

"Then where are we?"

"A squidillion of the way to the lake."

"What's a squidillion?" Asked Jack.

"I'm not sure, but we're halfway there." Vivi sighed.

"Couldn't you have said that in the first place?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Asked Envy, before resuming skipping forward. Because she did this while looking back at them, she didn't pay any attention to the breathing she heard, and she crashed into Espio. As he fell his invisibility disappeared.

"Hey! You're that chameleon guy June was going on about meeting!" Said Vivi, stopping, surprised.

"And you're from the Wind Clan obviously." Said Jack, holding out a hand to Espio while Vivi helped Envy up.

"Wind Clan you say? I'm from the clan of Earthy peoples." Said Envy, giggling. Vivi moaned.

"Oh great, she's gone on complete sugar hype and we won't get any sense out of her." Espio wrenched his hand out of Jack's.

"Hey take it easy! We're not going to attack you...!"

"June and Serena aren't my sisters, they can't be... I don't have sisters...." Mumbled Espio, backing away, then he went invisible and they heard him running off. Jack and Vivi stared at each other, wide eyed.

"Did he say...."

"June and Serena are his sisters...?"

"JUNE, SLOW DOWN!" June and Serena crashed onto Jack, Vivi, and Envy almost instantaneously.

"Sorry Jack." Said June, getting off him.

"It's okay." Said Jack, rubbing his head.

"More crashes, oopsie daisies!" Said Envy, giggling helplessly. Serena and June looked at the giggling wolf.

"Um..."

"Is that who I think it is...?"

"Yes June, it's Envy."

"But the last time we saw her was when she fell off the ship and Michael had to rescue her..."

"I never heard about that." Said Jack, puzzled.

"You hadn't joined the Deck Demons at that point." Said June.

"That makes sense." Vice smiled at them.

"So did you get out of jail?"

"First I have to ask, is Dave with you?" Asked Vivi, her eyes narrowing and a scowl coming onto her face.

"Errrr...... no. He was with us a few minutes ago though..."

"HE'S THE REASON WE WERE IN JAIL!" Yelled Vivi. "He has to be here!"

"Vivi, calm down..."

"I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!"

"VIVI CALM DOWN!" Vivi did with a great deal of effort.

"What does she mean, he's the reason you were in jail?" Asked Vector.

"Dave threw me at Vivi, we fell down the stairs into the police's arms, and then he said that he had won, and that I'd never get June." June's eyes narrowed.

"Vivi, you can't kill Dave."

"Why not?"

"Because _I_ want to kill him."

"Why don't we both kill him then?"

"Deal." The two girls shook hands.

"Two girls set on killing a guy, scary." Was all Charmy could say. Michael stepped between them.

"Let's not jump to any final decisions alright? Dave just made a mistake...."

"And got possessed." Said Jack. Michael seemed to forget what he had been going to say.

"Possessed? By what?"

"Some evil thingy that's asleep under Station Square." Said Envy, she wasn't giggling as much now, the sugar hype must have been wearing off. "And are you trying to find Espio too?"

"Yeah, why?" Asked Serena.

"We just crashed into him. He ran off thataways." Said Envy, pointing.

"Then why are we standing here?! Let's get moving!" June dashed off in the direction Envy had indicated. Vector groaned.

"And I was just starting to relax....."

Espio found the Jungliars grouped around a tree. "Come on! You've got to let us in! We've been chasing this really bad guy all through the forest and we know he came into your territory!"

"Listen you stupid birdbrain, I'll say this for the last time, no one could have come through here without me knowing."

"YOU DON'T HAVE ANY TECHNOLOGY TO BACK IT UP!" Said the leader of the Jungliars, pushing past the chameleon.

"Hey! You can't....!" But he was knocked unconscious as they surged through the entrance into the Water Clan's territory. Espio felt a vague feeling of rage, the thing inside him that had roared at seeing June and Serena was roaring again. _How dare the Jungliars do that?! They'll massacre the Water Clan! I've got to help.... _He cut that line of thought. He had no idea who the Water Clan even was, how was he supposed to feel angry on their behalf?! He quietly went through the entrance and shook the chameleon.

"Who's there...?" Asked the yellow chameleon in a groggy voice, sitting up.

"A friend." Whispered Espio before leaving the yellow chameleon feeling very puzzled.

"Spread out and find him!" Said the leader of the Jungliars. Chameleons scattered left and right, screaming and trying to find cover while the Jungliars attacked chameleons during their search.

Espio momentarily forgot why he had been going to the lake, he became angry and darted forward, sliding a kunai out of a chameleon's dead hand, he killed a Jungliar and became visible to the chameleon mother and her two children that he had saved.

"Get to the tunnel!" He didn't know why he said it, but he started to get a flash of the dream he had had, which coincided with Serena and June's story. He shook it out of his mind as he went to help some more chameleons.

Envy knocked on the tree. "Who's there?"

"Helllloooooo......." Giggled Envy.

"Envy." Groaned the voice on the other side.

"You're absolutely correct Bolton!"

"My name isn't Bolton! And you sound like you're on a sugar hype. Who are your friends?"

"Friends." Said Envy, giggling. June sighed.

"I'm June, this is Serena, we're looking for Espio."

"Hey... you're the missing Wind Clan members! The Wind Clan took refuge with us, come on in, but be careful, the Jungliars are in here right now..... I don't know what they're doing though." June's eyes widened.

"They're probably attacking your people, do you have any weapons? And can you get these damned gloves off my hands?"

"Uh... sure..." The yellow chameleon got the gloves off June. Her eyes glowed.

"Finally...." She whispered. Then she and Serena sped off to the battle.

Espio landed by a black chameleon who was about to be finished off by a panda Jungliar. He sent the panda running, then crouched by the chameleon, becoming visible. The black chameleon's eyes widened.

"Espio?!"

"How do you know who I am?" Asked Espio, confused.

"I'm your best friend! Don't you remember me? I'm Kendan!" It was as if a dam had been broken. Memories flooded through Espio's mind. He barely managed to stop himself from yelling... for some reason, these memories _hurt_.

"I didn't before but I do now." Said Espio calmly, taking a katana from Kendan. As he helped Kendan up he answered Kendan's questions about where he had been. "Now I've got to get you somewhere safe..."

"No, get me to the lake."

"Why?"

"The water has healing powers." Espio nodded. They both went invisible and fought their way to the lake. Kendan submerged for five seconds, then resurfaced. "Let's get this party started!"

"And let's kick their sorry asses." Said Espio, they grinned at each other. They used to say that at the start of any of their little lessons that involved fighting.

"Espio!" Yelled June and Serena, fighting their way through the Jungliars, blasting them into the trees that grew inside the great tree the chameleon tribes lived in, and scanning the crowds of fighters for Espio.

"June!"

"Serena!" They suddenly noticed two chameleons.

"ESPIO! KENDAN!" They leapt over the heads of the Jungliars and used the wind to propel themselves to the two chameleons. "We're coming but there better not be any spinach pasties or you're in trouble!" Yelled June.

"Of course not, only raspberry cream pudding for the princesses." Espio called up as they dropped towards him, laughing.

"You remember us!" They hugged him tightly. Just like when they were younger, Kendan put his hands on his hips.

"What, no hugs for me?" They hugged him too, laughing and crying.

"Excuse me, but we're still in the middle of a battle." Said the yellow chameleon. "My name is Scrizu." He held out a hand.

"Nice to meet you Scrizu." Espio suddenly stabbed a Jungliar who had been sneaking up on Scrizu. "Stay alert." Then he charged into the lines of Jungliars, using wind to blast a way through.

Vector was dancing and punching like a maniac, downing three Jungliars with each swing. "Hey watch it!" Yelled Vivi as she ducked under one of his fists.

"Sorry, I just can't help it!" Charmy stung the hand of a Jungliar who tried to attack Vivi.

"This is the way Vector usually acts."

"Well I'll have to drum some sense into him after this battle." She did a spinning kick and downed a Jungliar who had tried to get Charmy.

"Thanks."

"Only returning the favor." She said, smiling. Dave was above them, his eyes glued to June.

"You'll be mine, oh yes, all mine...." He hissed, then he looked at Espio, his eyes narrowed. "You'll do for my master... absolutely....." He started moving through the trees towards Espio, who was completely unaware that he was the target of the former Deck Demons leader.

Envy had had a bag of cookies before battling, now she was going through everyone like a whirlwind, rocks covering her hands. This was unfortunate for the Jungliars, because while she went among them, cracking their necks, she kept on yelling "COOOOOOOKIE!" which was very confusing, and gave her enough time to down them as well.

Vice's claws were scything everything he could reach. He was keeping close to Envy, because he didn't want her to get injured in her state of sugar hype. Michael had almost gone down, but Slade had leapt in to save him, and she was yelling for Serena to get over there and help.

Serena quickly reached them. "I'm so sorry I didn't get here faster Michael!"

"It's okay." He said, coughing a bit. "I'll be fine, did you find Espio?"

"Yeah. He remembers us now." Serena kicked a Jungliar in the throat and he fell.

"Oh good..."

"We've almost got them all beaten, soon they'll all be dead." Said Darien, appearing beside them.

"Well then let's crash their party!" Said Slade, grinning.

"Heeeey...... that's my line!" Said Kendan, appearing by them, grinning. He leapt up into the trees and yelled. "LISTEN UP YOU SORRY EXCUSES FOR CHICKENS, IF YOU DON'T GIVE UP, YOU'LL ALL BE DEAD IN A COUPLE OF MINUTES, WHICH WON'T BE THAT SAD BUT STILL, I THINK YOU'D PREFER BEING ALIVE." The Jungliars, after hearing that, put down their weapons. Their leader was dead anyway, and so was anyone else who had enough of a brain to plan anything. Kendan climbed down. Slade was furious.

"You ruined that! I wanted to have a fight to the finish!"

"But this is so much more fun!" Said Kendan, grinning. Just as the chameleon's started coming out of the tunnels, Dave dropped onto Espio, knocking him down.

"ESPIO!" Yelled June, starting to run towards him. Everyone froze though when a voice started shaking the ground.

"_You have found a perfect host for me David... I will see how well I can work his body, if he works to my satisfaction, then I will give you June_."

"Yes Master." Replied Dave. A blue tendril came up from the ground and wrapped itself around Dave's throat, strangling him. He cried out and tried to get it off, but his hands went through it, so his claws were attacking his own throat instead. Espio was struggling underneath the hedgehog.

The blue tendril wrapped a longer tendril around Espio. "_JUNE_." Said a voice, just as powerful as the other voice, June hurried over.

"Yes?"

"_You have to get Espio to the lake, hurry!_" June picked up Espio.

"Do you need help?" Called Serena.

"No, stay with Michael." June started dashing for the lake while the blue tendril continued strangling Dave. Just as June was about to put Espio into the lake his eyes became red.

"_Get your hands off me mortal._" Said the deep voice that had shaken the ground. Espio managed to unbalance June and send her crashing to the ground, away from the lake. Then Espio stood, smiling. "_Ah...... I can already feel the bonds holding my body starting to weaken...... this is good_!" Then he turned and smirked at June. "_Even though you tried to stop me from entering your brother's body, I thank you mortal. He relaxed enough for me force my way into his mind_."

"No... Espio...." Whispered June, looking at her brother, horrified.

"_I SHALL RULE THIS WORLD! ALL SHALL BE FLAMES AND DESTRUCTION! IBLIS IS NOTHING COMPARED TO ME! MEPHILES, YOU SHALL TREMBLE ONCE AGAIN BEFORE MY MIGHT! THIS WORLD SHALL ONCE AGAIN EXPERIENCE THE PURE TERROR OF INEVITABLE DEATH_!" The voice said that, but Espio was the one who screamed when bat-like wings tore through his back. They spread. "_If you dare to try and defeat me, you shall find me at the place known as Station Square_." Then he flew straight up and disappeared.

Serena started crying, Michael ran one of his hands through her hair. Dave was now dead, lying on the ground, his eyes back to normal. The blue tendril was joined by more until they formed the figure of a lady. "_I am sorry that I did not arrive in time_."

"It's not your fault." June stared at Dave's dead body, her eyes blazing with hate.

"No it's not, it's his! How could Serena and I ever have trusted him!?"

"_It's not his fault either, he loved you, and would do anything to have you, my twin took advantage of that_."

"Is Espio gone forever?" Asked Charmy.

"_No, he isn't. There's a way you might be able to save him. But you'll need to ally yourselves with Mephiles the Dark, and Scourge the Hedgehog. Both of them will realize that they must help you to survive_."

"They're not the most reasonable of people lady." Said Darien.

"_They will have to be now. You will find them in the Green Hill Zone, they're battling right now_." With a flash of light, they disappeared, leaving the Water Clan to get rid of the corpses.

**I didn't expect it to be that long, and wowee did I surprise myself! :O ESPIO IS THE HOST OF THAT DISGUSTING EVIL THINGY UNDER STAION SQUARE!!!!!! I can't bear it....! D:**

**Disclaimer: You wrote it!**

**I know, anyway, R&R, no flames, and all of that. :P I don't own anything in here except the Deck Demons, the chameleon clans, the Jungliars, and those twin thingies. Oh yes, and I need a bit of help, I'm trying to think of names for the blue tendril thingy and her twin. And I hope I had Envy act in character........ Envy doesn't belong to me! She belongs to inudemon. ;) And sorry for not updating this for so long! ^^' I couldn't find any inspiration.**


	9. Chapter 8

One day of corruption

First picture Green Hill zone in all it's glory, swaying grass that makes it's hills look like a green sea with gentle green waves (that for some reason, don't move). Now put Mephiles the Dark and Scourge the Hedgehog into this picture. Only Scourge seems to properly fit into it, but that's only because of his colouring. Mephiles looks like some delusional dingbat that flew out of a weird cave, and still thinks it's in there and fits in perfectly with it's surroundings.

Now of course, the words "delusional" and "dingbat" don't go together very well in a sentence, in fact, it's a crime to put them together on the same side of a period, but we shall ignore this horrifying revelation for now, and get on with it, before you are all driven to boredom by what would have been a tediously well described scene. What in the world would imagination be for otherwise?

So going back to the lovable near lack of good description, let's get on with this. Mephiles and Scourge were looking extremely angry (ahem ahem ahem, when most people fight they're supposed to look angry, points out someone who is reading over my shoulder, someone who is obviously Disclaimer). Though how it's possible for Mephiles to look angry without a mouth I do not know.

Maybe it's because he doesn't lack eyebrows? Whatever the case, they both look extremely angry and are apparently intent on knocking the stuffing out of each other (I have committed another crime by saying "knocking the stuffing out of", everyone knows that it's offensive to all stuffed toys that might be reading this, or any real animals that were stuffed after death).

At the precise moment when they would have succeeded with blowing each other up, Eidolon (the blue tendril thingy that was the lady) appeared with our well known heroes. Unfortunately, Scourge and Mephiles didn't know them well, and froze, their hands on each other's necks, staring at these newcomers.

The four spectators, all wolves, stared at the newcomers as well. But not with shock. No, definitely not shock, they had indignant expressions on their faces. "Hey! You ruined a good show there!" Called one, who had completely black fur (with the exception of a white stripe down her back and across her eyes, which you might be interested to hear were red).

She had a red tank top on (there was a blue rose on it), gray jeans (with holes in the knees), a black locket, and shoes that vaguely reminded Eidolon of Silver (who saw almost every single bloody thing going on on the planet that was a major event), but they were gray and blue.

Envy perked up immediately. "Hey Lust!" Lust stared.

"Envy.... I thought..... you can't..... how did.....?"

"Cookies." Envy announced solemnly, as if that answered all questions (which it probably did, to her). June and Serena stared at their wolf companion for a minute, then shook their heads and turned to Mephiles and Scourge.

"Hi, we need your help."

"And why would I give my help to a couple of chameleons?"

"Yeah, he's a dingbat who's only purpose in life is to destroy the planet." Snickered Scourge. That's funny, he used the same word for Mephiles that I did. What a coincidence. "So unless you need him to blow it up for you, then there's really no way he can help you."

"Wrong, I don't just destroy planets." Said Mephiles, frowning. "I also destroy sponges." Everyone stared.

"Why sponges?" Asked Jack, forgetting the problem at hand.

"Because I absolutely _hate_ Sponge. Bob. Square. Pants." Said Mephiles, sounding like he was gritting his teeth. If he actually had any that is. Scourge rolled his eyes.

"I hate tuna casserole but I don't go around destroying it, even though I tried to get it outlawed in my world."

"Okay this really isn't aiding the problem we have." Said Eidolon. Something you might like to know is that for some reason, a hero chao was floating over Eidolon's head, holding a cardboard sign that spelled out: Eidolon.

"How do you pronounce that word?" Asked one of the obviously younger wolves, he was white with a brown stripe on his eyes, and had patches of black and silver all over. He had on a yellow shirt (it had a black lightning bolt on it), black levi jeans, and a pair of shoes that looked like Charmy's, but were ice white and forest green.

"It sounds like eye-dough-lon. The lon is more like luhn, but that's beside the point." Said Eidolon. "Mephiles, Scourge, we need your help to stop my twin from destroying the world."

"Who is this person? If he's close to completing my life's goal then I am interested in knowing who he is exactly." Said Mephiles. Scourge got the look Sonic gets whenever Tails is trying to explain one of his machines.

"Wha...? That makes almost no sense."

"To an empty-headed idiot like you it doesn't."

"Why didn't you just call him a dingbat?" Asked Inu, who had asked about the pronunciation of eidolon.

"Because, everyone knows it's against the law to put the words delusional and dingbat on the same side of a period." Everyone stared at him.

"Errrrr......... that's very very interesting I'm sure Mephiles. And you know my twin. He's the guy who... you know.... created you, and you rebelled against?" Mephiles's eyes widened.

"Oh crap......" He said, making it very drawn out, so saying "oh crap" took around ten seconds instead of four, wasting more of my precious time, because I had to type that out to explain it. "I'll help."

"And so will you Scourge."

"Why? I have no incentive to, if the guy destroys this planet then good riddance I say, I won't have to deal with Sonic's stupid antics, which defeat me every time, and I hate that fact."

"Because if this world is destroyed, then he'll move onto another world to destroy. And another, and another and another, and another..." Of course, Eidolon saying "and another" on and on and on and on, is also wasting my precious time, so this author in particular was glad when Scourge said he actually got it.

"Alright already! Geez! Fine, I'll help you, but then I've got to be allowed to fight this guy in peace!"

"Yes, I have to be allowed to blow him up as soon as this is over." Said Mephiles, as he and Scourge took their hands from each other's necks and brushed them on the grass, as if to get rid of something dirty.

And they probably thought that the other was quite dirty, and (more than likely) lower than dirt, and almost not worth their time. Eidolon just rolled her eyes, frowned at the hero chao over her head, and dismissed it. It flew away singing a tuneless song called "Chao", that goes something like this.

"Chao chao, chao chao chaooooooo..... chao chao chao chao chao....." and add a very high pitched "chao" at the end, and you've got the basic gist of the song! [Insert extra large smiley here] Isn't that wonderful folks (asks the insane author)?!

Envy, while this had been going on, had been chatting with her siblings, Lust, Hanyou, Inu, Gold Wolf, and (weirdly enough) herself on the odd occasion. Inu had shared some cookies with her, after that, she had started talking to herself. You get the picture. "Sugar hype in progress" signs should have been put around her. But they weren't. So Mephiles had absolutely no idea what was going on.

Why did he have no idea what was going on you ask? What was going on that he didn't get? Well you see, after awhile, the hyped up Envy's eyes fell on Mephiles. And in her state of insanity, she completely forgot that he was a murderous, bloodthirsty spawn from hell intent on destroying everyone and everything, no.... she jumped on him with a yell of "pretty crystals!" and "cookies!"

So he was currently caught in one of the most bone crushing hugs of all time, struggling for air (even though, technically, he didn't really _need_ it, he was just used to breathing you see). Thankfully, Envy's siblings pulled her off him in time. "Heh heh heh....... coooooookies........" Said Envy, eyes wide, a grin on her face.

Mephiles decided from that moment on that Envy was a result of an experiment the devil made that went wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. How do we know he decided this? From what he said next. "That girl is a result of an experiment the devil was doing that went wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong." Now you know.

Eidolon looked like she was trying to stifle laughter. "Alright then, let us go to recruit some other people we will need the help of."

"Like who?" Asked Jack.

"Sonic, Shadow.... you get the idea." And so they disappeared again. Taking Envy's siblings as well, accidentally.

"THAT WAS FREAKING AWESOME!" Yelled Envy when they reappeared in the middle of Shadow's house, of course, she was right by Shadow's ear when she yelled this. Shadow reeled away from the position he had been in, which had enabled him to yell into Sonic's face. The black hedgehog was clutching his ear, feeling deafened.

Having someone yell in your ear tends to do that to a person. Envy looked at him with a smile, then went over to the hedgehog, who was flat on his back, waiting for the ringing in his ears to subside. She leaned down, and, Shadow, expecting another yell, braced himself, hoping he wouldn't go deaf. "Do you have any cookies?" Numbly, Shadow raised a hand.

"No don't...!" And pointed towards the kitchen. Envy dashed off.

"Oh great, she's going to go on sugar hype....." Said Hanyou, dashing into the kitchen after her. Shadow heard some scuffling noises, Hanyou came out with Envy looking disappointed.

"You lied." She said accusingly to Shadow. "There were no cookies." Shadow raised his eyebrows. Sonic had put some in there yesterday....... after receiving a glance from Eidolon, he kept his mouth shut about this. Sonic was staring at them.

"What the... how in the world....?"

"We're here to ask you for your help." Said Eidolon, the apparently good tendril thingy that reminded Amy, who was also in the room, of a squid. Hanyou was staring at Amy with a strange, faraway expression on his face.

"Hanyou?" Asked Lust.

"What...?"

"Why are you drooling?" Hanyou went red and ran out of the room.

"What's up with him....? And what do you need our help with?" Asked Sonic cheerfully.

"Saving the world from a creature that created Mephiles. My twin. He's tons stronger than anyone you've ever faced, he's possessing Espio the chameleon, and he wants to destroy the world." Then Eldrion paused. "If you remember Iblis..... then think of my twin as a much much worse version of him."

"I get the picture." Said Sonic, wide-eyed.

"I knew you would." Said Eidolon, seemingly oblivious to the effect those words had created. Then she turned to the Babylon Rogues, who for some unknown reason, were also there. "How about you?"

"Sure, there might be an opportunity to get a picture of him to use for a bit of blackmail." Said Jet, grinning evilly. Eidolon either didn't know what blackmail was, or wasn't bothered by Jet trying to find a way to blackmail Sonic, because she didn't object to it.

"Good. Next stop is your ship, I'm starting to get tired from all this teleportation, I'll need to save my energy for the battle, if I can help in any way that is."

Darkness.... the slam of some metal door...... screaming..... a flash of a terrified face..... flames....... roars of anger...... Angra Mainyu, Eidolon's twin, was leaving Espio alone for the most part, even though he was still possessing him. So Espio's eyes were still completely red, and glowing, and he still had wings.

The only change was that there was dried blood on his back around the wings, and that he was curled up in a corner, the wings wrapped around him, crying. In case you didn't know, a possession were the host was not willing hurt the host a lot. And in Espio's case, having experienced a lot of mental stuff when he was in the virtual reality chambers Vector found him in, it hurt even more.

Memories rose to the front of Espio's mind from Angra Mainyu's, he was trying to make Espio enjoy the images he saw, and just couldn't understand why Espio seemed terrified of some, horrified with others, just plain miserable with some, and utterly dejected with the rest. "_Look mortal, I am offering you immortality, and the chance to survive the destruction I shall bring to the world, and you don't like any of the things I'm showing you. Why?_"

"They're not right, they're inhuman..."

"_If you haven't noticed, I am not exactly human, and neither are you. Heck, I was here before humans, I'm the reason the dinosaurs died! It wasn't some stupid meteor like everyone thinks, though the results were the same_."

Espio shuddered and opened his eyes, staring into the darkness around him, that was laced with a strange red light every now and then. It was almost the same view he got from behind his closed eyelids. And it didn't matter if his eyes were open or closed, he couldn't find any sanctuary from Angra Mainyu, who was able to talk right into his head. "I don't want any of your glory..." He muttered.

"_Who said you'd be getting my glory? You'd be getting the privilege to survive_."

"I don't want to survive if it's like this." Said Espio, closing his eyes again. The wave of destructive images started crashing through his mind again.

**EEK! Sounds like Espio's giving up hope, and what in the world is going on? The countdown is nearly over......... oh yeah, that reminds me, for the previous chapter I forgot to put "two days of corruption". Today would be "one day of corruption". **

**The next chapter is probably going to be called "zero, explosion now". Or something like that. Anyway, R&R, I hope you liked this chapter. :) If you're wondering, I was looking up "delusional" on , and saw in the synonyms "eidolon", so i checked what it meant. It seemed to fit, so I used it. Then I went onto Behind The and looked up names with destruction in the meaning, and the search yielded the name Angra Mainyu. And that worked to, so it was chosen. I hope this was a good chapter..... I certainly hope it was..... btw, before the btw, I wrote this aaaaages ago, but lost the file and wasn't able to post it. So as you can see I finally found the file, and it is now postable! Hope you enjoy it, R&R (even though I said that already). I hope I did this chapter right. ^_^**


	10. Chapter 9

Zerp

"Don't touch that!" Jet yanked a vase out of June's hands.

"Storm knocked it over! I only picked it up!"

"I don't trust you Deck Demons, you might have been trying to steal it." Said Jet, eyeing her suspiciously. She laughed.

"Look at the pot calling the kettle black," was her only reply before skipping away. Envy randomly passed Jet, who's jaw was hanging, while eating spaghetti. She paused for a moment, finished chewing, and swallowed.

"Pretty vase." With that she went on. Jet shook his head. Why had he agreed to let this group of crazies onto his ship again?

_Flashback..._

"If you don't I will personally make sure you die in that battle!" Hissed Eidolon. "And if not in the battle, then I'll make sure you die a horrible death thanks to some other cause!"

_End Flashback._

Oh yeah, that's why. Jet carefully put the vase back on the desk, and walked away, whistling and trying to get Eidolon's threat out of his head. Not the easiest thing to do.

***

"Do you think Espio will be okay? Do you think we can save him Michael?" Michael smiled and gently hugged her. They were standing by the window, looking down on the passing countryside/towns/cities. Michael's arms were around Serena and her expression was worried.

"I'm sure everything will be fine." Serena turned her head to look at him.

"But we're anthros! Nothing's ever normal for us, and seeing as Espio is a known hero, trouble will find him sooner or later."

"Hey, everything will be alright as it can be then." Serena giggled and kissed him.

"Yuck, mushy scene! Everyone run away!" Called June, who had come in in time to see the kiss. She did a one-eighty (or whatever it's called) and ran out of the room. Michael and Serena laughed.

***

"_ESPIO! I demand an explanation for why images of my past triumphs have not pleased you!_" Roared Angra Maiyu, who was royally ticked.

"THEY'RE NOT RIGHT!" Yelled Espio. "Can't you get that into your twisted head?! I'm supposed to be a good guy! Of course I wouldn't like seeing people getting tortured or having their faces melted off!" Angra Maiyu grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'spoilsport'.

"_Don't you ever watch horror movies?_"

"No. Because they're horrifying."

"_That's the whole point of them though._"

"I know, which is why I don't watch them!" The argument started up again, distracting Espio, which meant that he hardly noticed that the flashes of red were getting much more frequent, and that they were getting brighter.

***

Jack was on the outside of the ship, strolling along on the top, despite the fact that everyone was yelling at him to get back in. "WHAT IF I HAVE TO HAVE THE SHIP DO A BARREL ROLL?!" Jet yelled.

"Then do a barrel roll!" Jack called back.

"WHAT IF THE TOP IS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING?!" Yelled Wave.

"Then let it be struck by lightning!" Called Jack.

"WHAT IF I WAS GOING TO MURDER YOU IF YOU DON'T GET BACK HERE NOW?!"

"Then let.... wait WHAT?!" Jack turned to see June giving him the evil eye. "Alright alright I'm coming!" He hurried back and came in. "It was nice up there though," he added, pouting. June rolled her eyes.

"Whatever. We need you for the fight ahead you know." Jack sighed.

"I know... but what if we hurt your bro? I haven't really known him too long, but from what you've all said, he's a great guy. I don't want him getting ticked off with me." Kendan appeared beside them, grinning.

"Trust me, Espio won't get ticked off at you, but if you let his sisters get hurt........ he will be royally p..." June put her hand over Kendan's mouth.

"I thought the teachers taught you not to be vulgar!"

"They taught me not to be vulgar when they're around, they aren't here now are they?" June sighed, exasperated.

"Boys are so impossible!" And off she went. Jack and Kendan stared after her for a second, then grinned at each other and bumped fists.

"Friends for life." They chorused.

***

"We're coming in for landing, I hope no one is on the roof, Hold on to your hats, hold on to your feathers, hold on to... OW!" Jet's voice was cut off as Wave shoved him out of the way and took over the intercom.

"Look, we're coming in for landing and it may be rough 'kay? You're smart enough to know to hold on to something." A couple of knotted ropes fell from the ceiling. Michael held one in a death grip, and Serena held on to him. June had jumped up and somehow managed to fashion a harness from the rope, so she sat in it and dangled from the ceiling, holding onto the rope, looking bored. Everyone else grabbed a rope, or someone who was holding a rope, and held on for dear life.

***

The argument abruptly came to an end as a flash of red and a bunch of screaming heralded the fact that Angra Mainyu was finally up. He lifted Espio in a hand concealed by a shadowy substance. Espio struggled in the thing's grip, it felt like he was being held by something extremely hot. The wings disappeared from Espio's back. This hurt more than having them grow there. Espio screamed.

***

As soon as June heard that, she was out of her harness and running for the exit. Serena, not knowing why she did so, followed. Eidolon groaned. "Angra is awake."

"He's the one screaming?" Asked Michael. Eidolon shook her head.

"No, the one screaming is the first person he can get his hands on."

"Espio..." Whispered Vector.

***

Angra Mainyu spotted the ship and grinned. He'd been about to burn Espio (not badly enough to kill him), but the ship would have more people on it. Besides, he had decided he would keep Espio alive to entertain him. He raised a hand, palm towards the ship. He barked something in a gravelly language and a fireball shot from his hand towards them.

***

They heard Jet swear over the intercom, and heard Wave smack him. "EVERYONE HOLD ON!" Then they had the..... 'pleasant' sensation of getting plastered to the ceiling, then being back on the floor, then back on the ceiling. This happened three times. "He shot a freaking fireball at us!"

"Unsurprising." Said Eidolon. "He usually shoots a couple meteors after a fireball......" The sound of Jet's cursing confirmed this. Everyone tried to get a grip on rolling stomachs and held on to the ropes a little tighter.

***

Meanwhile, June and Serena had managed to somehow keep upright through the whole barrel roll and were now leaping out of the ship towards a meteor. Using it like a springboard, they shot towards the next, getting steadily closer to Angra Mainyu. He noticed them and started shooting meteors towards his meteors (very confusing). Unfortunately for him, they dodged all of them. And while this went on, the Babylon Rogues landed their ship. Serena went towards the building where she could see a person, a person who she seriously hoped was Espio (it was of course, no one would be stupid enough to remain close to the area). "HOLY COW!" Okay maybe there are some people stupid enough to do that.

June knocked the man out of the way of a bolt of fire then stood and glared at Angra. "You son of a nutcracker," she growled.

"HEY! That's an Elf rip off!" Yelled the man she'd saved before he fled and jumped off the building for some odd reason, flapping his arms and singing "I believe I can flyyyyy........ I believe I can touch the skyyyyyy......" June didn't notice, she was too busy being angry at Angra Mainyu. The big red eyes (no, that's been used too many times, and makes me think of Makuta from the Bionicles. Let's make the eyes big and yellow) in the shadowy column blinked, then Angra chuckled.

"Feisty, just how I like them. Perhaps I shall keep you alive, you would make an interesting wife." June went red with fury.

"I WOULD NEVER BOW DOWN TO YOU! You are SUCH a sicko!" Angra chuckled again.

"Yes, I will have to keep you alive." June started pelting Angra Mainyu with bolts of energy. Of course, this was originally supposed to be a distraction only, now June was reaaaaaaaally mad, which meant she was attacking in ernest. While this went on, Serena crouched by Espio and shook him.

"Wake up Espio! We need you!" He groaned and opened one eye.

"Just touching me hurts right now Serena."

"Sorry." Espio pushed himself up.

"What's going on...?"

"Well, June was supposed to be distracting Angra whatsisname, but I think he ticked her off...." Kendan suddenly appeared beside them.

"Cover your ears." They did so. Suddenly music started booming through the city. Most windows shattered. Angra Mainyu gave an un-earthly screech and covered his ears. His eyes conveyed how angry he was. Then, shockingly enough, he started shrinking.

"Uh..... did we beat him?" Asked Jack. Eidolon appeared beside him.

"No! He's going to his more powerful form! Vector is such an idiot!" Eidolon continued ranting as Angra Mainyu became a chameleon. He smirked at June.

"I'll be with you soon my love," he said, blowing a kiss towards her. She looked furious. Royally p as Kendan would say before he gets cut off by someone.

"DIE YOU JERK!" June flung a huge wall of power (mixed with wind of course) at Angra Mainyu, who only raised his eyebrows. As it hit him he waved his hand and it disappeared.

"I shall keep close to you so I don't get too hot. It's nice to have a fan." June was shrieking with rage by now, and Eidolon had to restrain her. Jack swallowed nervously.

"Um...... do you think we'll live to see this evening?" Kendan shook his head.

"Nope."

"I was kinda hoping for an optimistic opinion," squeaked the red chameleon. Kendan smiled grimly.

"Well in situations like these I am always a pessimist. Sorry." Angra Mainyu pointed a finger at Mephiles, who's eyes were wide.

"You'll die first my dear creation. Never let it be said that Daddy doesn't give his children their just rewards."

**That guy is.... twisted. Anyway, hope you like this chapter! ^_^ Don't ask why I named this chapter "Zerp". The next one is going to be called Armageddon though. :) R&R please! No flames, I don't own any characters except Jack, June, Vivi, Kendan, Eidolon, Angra Mainyu et cetera et cetera. G'bye for now.**


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